Practice and Proof
by dooder's nin
Summary: Deuce is anxious about an upcoming Greek monster initiation test that he thinks should be coming up at any time. But the judge of the test seems a little off and things start to take an unexpected turn. This coincides with Heath and his cousin coming across something that Heath has been trying hard to prove he can handle. Both of them have been practicing to prove capable monsters


Practice was something that was supposed to eventually produce results. Either in sports or other activities that require some level of developing expertise through repetition to create that desired, or closely attained, goal. So when it was nearly impossible for there to be any time _not_ practicing, one might assume that such expertise would come naturally. But as the perpetual fires in different areas of the school would attest, nobody was alone in that constant practice to be able to understand how to interact with one another with their own unique abilities and traits.

Therefore it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise that during Physical Deaducation, a new stone archery target would appear when a certain student's glasses were accidentally knocked off for a moment. However, the was also the fact that there also happened to be another student that just missed spending the day as another of the school's various decorative sculptures.

"Oh, dude! Sorry!" Deuce said as Jackson flung himself backwards to avoid being in his friend's direct line of sight. Luckily Clawd had been close enough to help with that, the two of them standing behind the other target until Deuce gave the all clear. "Sorry! It's windier out here than I thought." The gorgon said, looking guilty at how close he'd come to petrifying a couple of his friends again. Heath had plenty of experience and practice with that, although knowing Deuce the longest it had become more or less just an inconvenience. Plus, Heath also knew that Deuce would only do that on purpose when he had done something particularly stupid or overbearing and as much as he complained, the gorgon would always find a way to explain and make it up to his friend.

"Probably shouldn't be shooting off arrows today either." Jackson said as he and Clawd warily stepped out from behind the target. "But that's how coach is. Makes the girls run laps in study howl instead of actually, you know, studying."

"Yeah, well, it's this or something equally ridiculous." Clawd said as they picked up the rest of the arrows off the ground and returned to where their classmates were waiting. "We could be doing more of those laps in this heat. I think you and Heath are the only ones not wanting to just take a nap right now." He said, motioning to where Heath seemed to actually be able to concentrate on one thing for more than his usual five minutes.

"Hey, the weather's not that bad." Deuce said, Clawd shaking his head at his friend's reptilian qualities. "Yeah, but you don't have a layer of fur on you like I do." The werewolf said, Deuce shrugging as he couldn't find a good counter.

"So how come you're not collapsed in the shade with some of the others?" Deuce asked Jackson. "I mean, I know the elemental thing makes you deal with the heat better, but it is pretty hot out." He said as he got ready to start firing off a few more arrows into the remaining target. The others had taken the opportunity of being down to one target to make the excuse that they couldn't continue to stand out in the sun any more. Jackson laughed, watching as Clawd patted Deuce on the shoulder to go do just that. Before he could answer though, Heath intervened.

"Hey, look at this." He said, lining up his bow. "Heath! Wait for Deuce to get out of the way first!" Jackson said, lowering his cousin's bow. Deuce jogged a little more off to the side at hearing his friend's warning, but Heath only shrugged.

"I _was_ waiting. I'm not that absent-minded. Especially today since the weather's finally just right." Heath said, taking aim again to get a perfect bulls-eye. "You should've been in class with me to see the shocked look on everyone's faces when I recited line-for-line my poem we all had to perform. Seriously, nobody has any faith in the Heathster." He said, grabbing another arrow.

"You did that?" Deuce asked, Heath nodding in pride at having had so far an academically worthwhile day. "Guess you can't focus on your own unless you're not trying to jump around and spread that heat of yours. Even when everybody tells you otherwise." The gorgon teased, Heath shooting him a mock glare as he waited for Deuce to have another go.

"And you keep losing your glasses. Jackson almost got stoned." Heath said at the wrong time, Deuce's arrow veering noticeably off from the target. Jackson sighed and shook his head at his cousin's timing. The arrow didn't do much damage, but not even his increased concentration gave Heath any sense of subtly.

"I said I was sorry. I wasn't paying attention." Deuce said. "My mother's been after me to show some improvement in that area too. My cousins had a visit from Tiresius for their evaluation to be able to, I guess you would call it, graduate, to the Echnida class of Greek monsters and be able to have all sorts of privileges among the other monsters." Deuce said, leaning on his bow.

"Huh? I didn't think that was still around, but family traditions are hard to give up." Jackson said, wiping his brow. "So it's like a country club or something? Makes it easier to be called a true Greek monster?" Jackson said good-humoredly, Deuce laughing at that.

"Yeah. But Tiresius didn't give them the go-ahead yet for some reason, even though the other judges seemed ready." Deuce said as Jackson fired off an arrow into one of the target's blue rings. "It was weird. He hasn't been on the committee very long and only comes up from Hades when there's a good summoning going on. But the thing is, he came by himself and my cousins aren't as friendly as I am and sent him away when it seemed like he was giving them an especially hard time." Deuce said once Jackson seemed to give up.

"Hey. I know you like the heat cuz' but your human half makes it only good for so long. I won't hold it against ya if you take a short break." Heath said, firing off the last arrow. But Jackson shook his head. "No. We only have a few more minutes before we head in anyway. But when it's into the three-digit range, I start feeling it." Jackson said with a sigh as he wiped his forehead again. "But we were talking about Deuce." Jackson said in his usual tone that he had to employ to get his cousin back on track.

"I know, I know. Greek monster country club and his cousins' rejection. I got it." Heath said as he broke away to go get the arrows they'd shot. Jackson shook his head at his cousin, even though Heath had managed to actually hear every word this time.

"So any ideas when you're up?" Jackson asked. "I'm gonna guess that's probably why you're a little off today." He said, receiving a nod in return. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be ready and do just fine. Any ideas on what task he'll give you?"

Deuce just shrugged as the class started to head back in, walking alongside his friend. "Not a clue. I'm supposed to be ready for anything, but clearly my petrifying abilities aren't the best. But as long as I don't turn myself to stone, I think I'm good." He said, Jackson shooting him an amused smile.

"It's not like the old days when you'd be assigned something like any one of the twelve labors of Hercules, right?" Jackson asked as they entered inside, relieved sighs coming from the class as they got out of the hot air and into the more air-conditioned building. Deuce shrugged though, looking a little more apprehensive about his upcoming test. But seeing that he and Jackson weren't so alone, he quickly took on his usual stance so that the others wouldn't see him being too worried about anything.

"I don't even know when he's gonna just pop up dude. It could be today, tomorrow, or in three months. Mom thinks it's soon though since he went to my cousins already. Usually they go by age and family when they go down the line. An initiation sort of thing." He said to Jackson, who was looking around to see if Heath had the rest of the arrows he was putting away. Spotting his cousin, he headed off with Deuce to the locker rooms.

"Well. Good luck." Jackson said. "Oh, do you still want me to come over later after school if you think he might show up? I can bring our art project over another time or you could come to my house?" Jackson suggested as the boys put on their everyday clothes to head back into the school. But Deuce shook his head at his friend's kind offer to accommodate him.

"Nah. If he shows up, then I'll ask you to head out. But otherwise, I'm not supposed to change my routine or anything." He said, Jackson nodding as they headed back to class. Although many others were looking like they were dreading heading to classes in any hallway that wasn't currently getting any air conditioning. Abbey had found a way to avoid classes in that area, but Jackson was considering pulling the 'human limitations' card too since he wasn't too keen on basically sitting in an oven for the next class with a bunch of other students.

* * *

"I can't believe you and I are being sent to do this." Jackson grumbled as he and his cousin walked down to the boiler room. "Why didn't Jinafire or any other heat-resistant or tolerant monster go with you?" Jackson asked as he took a minute to catch his breath. His cousin had pretty much been volunteered by their teacher to go see why the heater was on, once it was determined that the air-conditioning was working in that section of the school as well. But for some reason, hot air was being blown in at the same time. And as his Heath's cousin, Jackson had been sent to basically make sure Heath read the meters right and didn't try to do anything too drastic.

"Why? You starting to melt?" Heath teased Jackson, looking quite comfortable in the hot environment. Jackson huffed and shot a glare to his cousin. "Yes, Heath. _Half_ elemental. That means half _human_ and it's getting too hot for me down here to think straight." He said, although he had to admit he saw the logic behind their headmistress' proposal. He could follow the instructions and Heath would be able to carry them out, the only ones who might be able to do so in the sweltering atmosphere quicker than waiting for a repairman to come after the students had already left.

"Yeah, Yeah. Just hand me the instructions." Heath said once they'd gotten to the machinery. But Jackson looked warily at his cousin with his outstretched hand. But Heath rolled his eyes and prodded Jackson further. "Of the two of us, today, I'm the most level-headed. I got this." Heath said, Jackson sighing in agreement.

"Fine. But I didn't mean to set any of those pencils on fire today." Jackson said, thinking back on how he'd caught his pencil on fire when he'd been gesturing to Gil while he'd explained something to him, the heat playing tricks with his practiced control over his limited pyronic abilities. "Maybe after, I should let Holt handle the heat." Jackson said, surprising Heath.

"Holt handles it the same as you though, doesn't he?" Heath asked as Jackson started to look over where they might begin deciphering how to go about dealing with something that was way over their usual quick fixes. "Holt seems to not be as bothered by it. When I transform, clearly my skin changes too; and whatever's going on that turns it blue is more resistant to the heat. But, he might decide to fix this by just kicking it." Jackson said while pulling out their instructions. "Which might not be such a bad idea 'cuz this isn't in English." He said, Heath laughing as he looked over his cousin's shoulder.

"So we'll improvise. You're good at that. Holt gives you plenty of opportunities." He said, Jackson huffing in frustration as he tried to make sense of the foreign language. "Maybe it's the same as what's on these crates." Heath said as he pointed out the wooden crates which were marked in what Jackson believed were Italian. "Whoa. How much coal does the school really need?" Heath said as he looked inside, Jackson coming over to check it out too.

"I'm guessing a lot. But the school must've gotten these crates not too long ago if there's still coal in them. Probably gets it from some specialty place equipped to handle heating a castle like this for extended periods of time." Jackson said, wiping his hands on his pants from where he'd gotten coal on them. "More likely it's some deal with the manufacturer. Buy their coal at a discount price for using their malfunctioning equipment." Jackson said with irritation. "Heath, I have no idea how I'm supposed to fix this. Unless you do, I think we're going to have to head back and say we did our best." Jackson said, leaning against the wall only to pull back when it was too hot.

"Alright." Heath shrugged, not having a problem with that. "Hey, what's this?" Heath asked, holding up something from the crate that obviously wasn't coal. But it piqued Jackson's curiosity as he walked over to take it from his cousin, inspecting the black and purple item. Aside from the bit of color, it was smooth on one side. "Oh, man…." Jackson said, looking back up at Heath with wide eyes. "Heath, this is a part of an egg. Something fell in with the coal and hatched." He said, the two of them looking around to see if they could spot what had escaped. A small noise had them both jump, Heath being tripped as something ran between his legs. Jackson helped right his cousin as they followed the gray and green blur. "You look." Heath said to Jackson, the other shaking his head that he wasn't going to literally stick his neck out alone. "Same time." Jackson said, he and Heath peering around the side of one of the crates.

"It's a baby dragon!" Heath said, a smile forming on his face as he saw the tiny creature the size of a cat. "Aww. It's cute." He said, reaching out to pet the shaking creature.

"No. I think it's a wyvern. They usually lay their eggs near a good food supply and coal would work to keep up its fire when it's young." Jackson said as he looked closer at the wyvern as it seemed to take to Heath, its tail wiggling in merriment as the elemental lit up one of the pieces of coal and tossed it to the wyvern. It jumped to catch it, munching happily on it as it tasted a lit piece. "This one must have gotten scooped up when the coal was collected. Poor thing. Based on the ridges on its back it's probably only six or seven months old." Jackson said, the wyvern weaving between Heath's and Jackson's legs with its new company.

"So it's probably been keeping up the heat in the school. He's gonna have to find a new home." Heath said with a tone to his voice Jackson could tell where he was heading. He looked over to Heath to see him pick up the wyvern and hold it close. "You wouldn't want to keep him cooped up. Would you? Just look at him." He said, getting the wyvern to face Jackson and sending his cousin a pleading look.

"No. Heath…." Jackson said as he tried to resist the way the wyvern looked with his cousin. "Heath... Your parents said no to the pet dragon. They're not going to let you keep the thing." He said, but Heath didn't seem to be too bothered with that detail.

"What should we call him? How 'bout an Italian name?" Heath said as the wyvern crawled onto his shoulder. Jackson cocked his head to the side as he looked at the wyvern. "Um…Heath… _he_ is a _she_." Jackson said, Heath picking up the wyvern to check for himself. "Huh. So she is. What's a good, ethnic, exotic Italian name for a girl?" Heath asked as he thought about it. Jackson shrugged but found he couldn't help but join in with his cousin.

"How about….Pasqualina? You could call her Lena for short." Jackson suggested, Heath seeming to find that a good enough name. "But we shouldn't name her. Naming her means you get attached and you can't keep her Heath." Jackson said but he already could see how badly he was losing the argument. "Ugh…fine. Come on and you and I can figure this out on our own. My parents aren't supposed to be back until tomorrow morning anyway so we can take her to my house until you find a way to tell your parents." Jackson said, Heath making a triumphant sound as he broke down his cousin, tossing the wyvern playfully into the air. She made another small noise like a snort before letting her wings catch some air, gliding around the two boys before landing on the ground. "Come on Lena. Come on girl" Heath said, motioning for the wyvern to follow after him and Jackson as they headed back, the room already starting to cool down as the wyvern stopped munching on the coal.

"This is going to be a long night." Jackson said, more to himself as he and his cousin slowly made the trek back to the school.

* * *

Abbey let out a sigh of relief as the temperature started to drop after Jackson and Heath had returned, although Heath had begun to take his backpack to class with him. She found that a little odd considering how much he usually didn't seem to really care what he had with him too much, but the fact that she was sure the bag moved a few times also had her counting the minutes until the day was over. He'd hardly touched his lunch either, a sure sign to her that he wasn't himself, putting it into his bag unwrapped as he claimed he'd eat it later. Jackson had shook his head at that, but he'd been too concerned with the fact that Frankie seemed to have had a rough time too with keeping her electrical charge flowing properly and not overheating at the bolts. But despite her best efforts, Jackson found himself doing his best to help out a sickly Frankie and Abbey was sure he too was counting down the minutes.

"Jackson, I'm fine." She said as she held herself, her body clearly betraying her as she looked like she wanted nothing more than to just go home and relax to get back to normal. "Lagoona and Clawdeen are supposed to stay after today and we're going to work on our project. I'll be with them and I'm sure I'll be fine." Frankie said as class winded down.

Jackson looked over to the werewolf and sea monster, receiving shrugs from them as they tried to find a way for their friend to be convinced she wasn't going to miss some vital teenage experience by going home right after school. Jackson sighed as he thought of a sure-fire way to get her to go home, although he did feel a little guilty at using her caring nature to do so, feeling as though that was more like Holt's method of doing things. "Well, um…I didn't want to say anything in front of the others…" He began, rubbing his eyes to try and play the part. "But I may have overdone it myself with Heath down in the boiler room. Guess I'm not elemental enough as I thought I'd need to handle that." He said, Frankie's face taking on a sympathetic expression as she took the bait Jackson tossed at her.

"Oh! Of course I'll head out with you if you need me to help you." Frankie said, reaching out a hand to grasp Jackson's, a smile on her face as she looked to him. "I know just the thing to help. See? It's not so hard to just ask for help when you're not feeling well." She said, Jackson giving a heavy sigh at how ironic her advice was. But Lagoona and Clawdeen silently mouthed their thanks to Jackson, aware of how counterproductive Frankie's nursing skills could be and imagining that Jackson had a hard enough time with that when Frankie wasn't under the weather herself.

"Thanks Frankie." Jackson said as he wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, shooting Heath an unamused glare as his cousin made a kissy face at him at the mention of being alone with Frankie. "Would it be alright if we stopped at your house first? Just so you can, um, get some of your things?" Jackson suggested as he tried to get Frankie to her own bed to rest and literally recharge. As a testament to how ill Frankie really was feeling, she went with the feeble excuse, Jackson shooting a relieved look to the others once the bell finally rang and they headed out.

"Heath. You still have a key to my house right? I'll meet you there in about an hour." Jackson said as he gathered his things as quickly as he could while the girls aided Frankie's own collection of her things. His cousin nodded and took off, not caring that he was receiving a few odd looks from the way he was carrying his now smoking backpack, most students just assuming Heath had set something else of his on fire again.

"You still comin' over my house later dude?" Deuce asked as he overheard his friend's exchange with the elemental. Jackson winced as he realized he'd still have to get to Deuce's house at some point too. "Yeah. Sorry Deuce. I'll get there but it might be later than I thought. Heath's got… _something_ ….I unwisely agreed to help him out with and Frankie's being stubborn about taking care of her cold." Jackson said, looking behind his friend to see if she was ready to go yet.

"Sounds like someone else I might know." Deuce said with a chuckle. "You two need each other to take care of the other. You're not going to do it yourselves." He said, Jackson shooting him a peeved look at being called out on the many times he'd not said anything when hurt or ill.

"Thanks Deuce. But I'll really try to get to your house as soon as I can." Jackson said, the gorgon giving an understanding nod of his head before he waved to his friend and took off on his own. Jackson watched as he met up with Clawd and Gil, certain that Deuce would get just as sidetracked now as Heath usually did.

"Ready Jackson?" Frankie's voice drifted over to Jackson who turned in surprise at not having noticed her approach as he tried to process the multiple commitments he'd made for the afternoon. He nearly dropped what he had in his hand, Frankie helping him to keep ahold of his various notebooks. "Careful Jackson. You must not be feeling well. You look tense." She said as Jackson finished stuffing his bag with his things. _She was right about that_ , he thought, considering how easily the afternoon could spiral out of control without an appearance from Holt.

"I'm good Frankie. You all set?" He asked, the green-skinned girl giving a small nod before leaning onto the lockers to keep her balance, sending a jolt through them unintentionally. "Sorry." She winced as Jackson stepped back as a shock made its way to him, rubbing his arm as he guided her towards his car.

"Not to worry. It's all good." Jackson said, sending her his usual goofy smile that he hoped would get her to relax a little more so he could actually take care of her. It seemed to work as she sent him a tired smile in return. "Is it alright if I ask to hold onto you. Just so I can get to the car without anyone else noticing how badly the heat got to me today?" he asked when he saw her having a hard time keeping her legs from wobbling and tearing the stitches again.

"Of course not. I'm always happy to help you." Frankie said, grabbing onto Jackson's arm. He smiled at her and gave a short laugh. "But better make it look like you're the one I'm helping. Heath'll never let me hear the end of it." He said, Frankie nodding again and letting Jackson actually be the one to support her. He gently grabbed her bag from her as they walked over to his car, taking a second longer putting them in his trunk so as to give her a moment to get inside without his help. The ride was quieter than normal without Frankie's usual small talk about their day as she started to drift off on the ride. She was almost out when Jackson pulled up alongside her house, making him feel a little guilty at having to rouse her so she could let them inside.

"Just head in and I'll grab our stuff. Let me at least put up a front for the neighbors. You're always carrying me back to your house to help me." Jackson said, making it sound like it would be an enormous favor to him, although there was also some truth to his statement too. Frankie nodded and he felt relieved, hurrying to catch up with her.

"Okay Jackson. I'll just need to grab…"Frankie started to say before breaking into a yawn. Jackson shook his head and walked her down to her room.

"Before we do anything else or go anywhere, I'm really tired too." Jackson said, not sure if he should try and coax her onto her charging bed or head toward the plushier futon in her room that her parents had set up to give her an area to relax in on her own. Deciding that he could always just try to carry her himself or wait until her parents got home to have her father set up her charging table, he opted for the futon. Frankie was protesting that he should get to his own house so that he didn't get sick while he was pulling out the futon.

"No. I just need a minute and then we'll go." Jackson said, climbing onto the futon. "But I think, um, I might have been allergic to something in the boiler room…so, could you grab that blanket?" Jackson said, indicating the blanket draped over the side of the futon.

"It's right next to you. Can't you grab it?" she asked, but Jackson shook his head, curling in on himself. "Aww, Jackson. I'll get it." Frankie said as she took pity on what looked like a discomforted Jackson, climbing onto the futon with the blanket and making to pull it over him as she herself shook a little.

"Will you…will you lay next to me?" Jackson asked, his face genuinely turning red as he asked such a question. But Frankie took it as evidence of him being ill and simply laid next to him, snuggling into his side.

"You don't sound congested." She said after a minute of silence. Jackson knew he'd been caught as Frankie obsessed over him. "Your breathing sounds okay. A fever?" she asked, blearily looking up at Jackson as she fought to stay away.

"Yeah…that's all." Jackson said, taking a deep breath before doing his best to concentrate on his elemental abilities and make himself marginally warmer for Frankie to think he was ill enough for her to need to stay on the futon. He knew that she was still aware enough that if he gave up the act now, she might just storm right back to the school to meet up with her friends. He held his breath as she reached up to touch his cheek, hoping he'd been successful since the previous times he'd attempted such a thing, he'd inadvertently imitated his cousin with occasional spontaneous bursts of flame.

"Oh, you are a little warmer." She said, sounding convinced. "Maybe I should get you something from whatever's in my dad's lab. It's just behind that door." She said, making to get up to go to the basement's other room that served as her father's lab.

"No!" Jackson said, pulling her back. "I mean, uh, let me get some rest first and then I'll be up to taking something." He said, hoping it sounded reasonable enough. Frankie looked curiously at him, but laid back down, resting her head on his chest as her pillow. She yawned again and Jackson laughed.

"It wouldn't be so bad if you took a nap too." He suggested, but she shook her head like he thought she would. They stayed that way for a half hour as Frankie fought to remain awake in order to be able to check on her boyfriend, Jackson finding himself nearly nodding off a few times too. "Are you up for taking something now? You're not nauseous are you?" Frankie said, Jackson nodding and holding her tighter to him to keep her from getting up. Frankie sighed but resumed their silence.

"Jackson, I can't fall asleep. My mind's too wound up." She said eventually, although the yawn she said it around didn't give any credence to her protest. Jackson sighed at that, knowing that she probably was thinking about her project and how to take care of him as well as feeling her own sickness.

"I know how that can be, Frankie." He began, Holt's chatter at the back of his mind drifting through more loudly and clearly on some days than on others. "Why don't you find something to focus on instead of all those other things you've got bouncing around? You could count sheep. We could put soft music on in the background – but let's not trigger Holt." Jackson said, earning a small smile from Frankie. "He's anything but quiet and we could both use some quiet right now." She said, admitting her own discomfort. "But I'll pick this." She said, lying against Jackson again. "If it's alright? I don't want to make you any more uncomfortable." She said after a second, but Jackson nodded and stayed quiet as he tried to even out his own breathing to keep his heartbeat slow enough for Frankie to fall asleep to. In a matter of minutes, she was sound asleep. Jackson gave a relieved sigh at that and tried to move out of her hold to lay her out more comfortably, but felt like he was fighting against quicksand. Every move he made had her clinging tighter to him like he was her teddy bear for her nap. He soon gave up and resolved to face the awkward conversation with either her mother or her father as soon as one of them got home.

He panicked a little when he heard one of her parents getting home, worried that he'd be facing her father finding them on her futon, even if it was a completely innocent position. He closed his eyes to take a deep breath and keep calm, his agitation being picked up by Frankie who shifted a little on him. He heard a soft exclamation and looked over to see Frankie's mother peeking into her room. He gave her what he hoped was a normal smile as he motioned for her to come over.

"Oh, you two are so adorable." Frankie's mother said with a look of fondness as she approached them, turning Jackson's cheeks red again. "All tuckered out after the hot day? Nothing _hot_ going on down here though, hmmm?" she asked, snickering as Jackson's eyes widened comically as he began to quietly stammer out an explanation of what was going on. But she waved his worries aside. "I'm not her father. I can see she's not feeling well. Thank you for looking after her but I've got her now." She said, scooping up her daughter and carrying her over to the charging bed, setting things up for her daughter to feel better.

"Sorry. I wasn't sure what settings would be appropriate and I didn't want to touch anything and make things worse." Jackson whispered as he folded up the futon again. "But I couldn't think of any other way to get her to relax aside from claiming _I_ needed to rest." He tried to explain, not sure if he preferred the smirks and looks Frankie's mother was sending him to the stern, authoritative tone her father usually reserved for him unless he was really not well from something Holt did. Even then, he usually felt embarrassed long after her father had helped him either to get back to his house or to help with whatever bumps or bruises Frankie's insisted on helping him take care of.

"That was very clever of you. But she'll give you quite a talking to when she's feeling better about you tricking her." Mrs. Stein said, Jackson nodding sheepishly. "But I don't think she minded your methods of convalescing." She said with a look that had Jackson blushing again. "Go on home and she'll text you when she's feeling up to it. You did good Jackson." She said, Jackson giving her a smile as he left, rushing to get back to his house to see what sort of damage his cousin had done in the time he'd left him and his new wyvern unsupervised at his house.

* * *

It had taken longer than he'd thought, but he was only a half hour later than what he'd told his cousin. But as he walked inside his house, it looked like it had been longer, the living room torn apart and various scorch marks here and there.

"Heath!" Jackson shouted as he slammed the front door to get his cousin's attention. He followed the sounds of splashing to see his cousin with soap suds all over him and the wyvern as Lena played in the tub while Heath gave her a bath.

"H-hey Jackson…" Heath said a little sheepishly as Jackson stood there with a look on his face that clearly asked for some answers. "She got hungry…." Heath started, returning to giving attention to the wyvern when she yipped at him and nuzzled his hand.

"So you fed her the living room?" Jackson sarcastically remarked as he watched his cousin take the wyvern out of the bath and wrap her in a towel. Jackson sighed and walked inside the bathroom to let the water out of the tub since Heath seemed to be having a hard time getting Lena to calm down from her hyper state.

"Sorry Jackson. She wasn't happy being in the bag for so long and took off as soon as I let her down. But I'm sure your parents won't even notice the scratches to the couch. Or the burn marks. Or the broken picture frames. And that lamp…." Heath said, Jackson shaking his head as his cousin listed off all that had been messed with by the excitable wyvern.

"She's the equivalent of a puppy Heath. She wants to run around. Did you take her outside at least?" Jackson asked, but Heath shot him an annoyed look. "Why do you think she needed a bath?" he asked, Jackson mentally admitting that should have been an obvious answer to his question but he was still stressed over what to do next. He groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "Okay. Food. We're gonna need to get some food and I ain't gonna….Oh my God!" He trailed off as he realized Holt was getting through to him more with his agitated state and he had been slipping into his speech pattern. "Heath, I just came from trying to keep Frankie from doing anything to get herself sicker and then I had to have an awkward conversation with her mom and now…now…this thing is going to drive me mad if it keeps getting into…" he started to say but his cousin franticly gestured to him.

"Easy, easy Jackson." Heath said as Jackson sank heavily into his couch. He could tell how much his cousin had picked up on his stress for the afternoon, his alter ego's characteristics sometimes crossing over whenever he got too worked up. Jackson often wondered if that was a sign that he was reaching his next trigger, but his father had his own moments where if embarrassed enough, his Hyde side's characteristics peeked out. So far, Holt only had a few instances when Jackson's more calmer and patient disposition affected him. But Jackson tried not to let another of his long-pondered questions about himself take over his thoughts as his cousin chased after the wyvern. "I told you. I got this." Heath said, Jackson letting his head fall back onto the cushion. But it seemed like that was all it took for the wyvern to decide it was time to take a break, plopping down next to Jackson and resting her head on his thigh. Jackson looked down as the wyvern got comfortable, begrudgingly admitting that it was hard to stay mad at her when she was happily puffing smoke at him.

"Awww. See. She's sorry." Heath said, sitting next to her and stroking her back, gaining more happy noises from the wyvern. Jackson sighed and picked up the creature, placing it on Heath's lap.

"Okay. But you're still going to need to get her some proper food. I'm afraid to see what you did to the fridge." Jackson said, Heath looking a little guilty at the mention of the kitchen. "But I need to get to Deuce's to drop off some stuff. You stayed out of my room at least, right?" he asked, receiving a quick nod from his cousin. Jackson sighed again and headed up to his room to grab the materials he'd been creating in the mad science lab to use in his and Deuce's art project. He'd been pleased with the result, creating a substance much like the moist sand children used for their own projects but with more stability and differing texture. He and Deuce had been assigned an open-ended project, so long as it was life-size and appropriate for school exhibitions. When Deuce had sarcastically suggested he just turn someone to stone for a few periods to get the 'life-size' and 'life-like' requirement down to perfection, Jackson had suggested that they do actually make a sculpture of some sort. He had mainly done the chemical engineering, but Deuce had come up with the idea to try and make it so that it would remember its shape for a few moments after it had been placed over some object so that it could give them some foundation to work with and help them out some more. Jackson had continued to work on it at home, finding himself actually enjoying this art project more so than any other art project since he'd basically turned it into a science project. He quickly gathered up the buckets of material he'd made, making a few trips to get it all into his trunk.

"Whoa. What grave did you dig up to get all that dirt?" Heath asked as he watched his cousin go back and forth. "And why can't you just have Deuce come here?"

"Didn't you hear what he was saying during P.D.? He's sticking around his house in case it's his turn to undergo that initiation thing so he doesn't miss the judge's visit. Besides, he's a much better sculptor than I am and he can work on it more on his own after I leave." Jackson said, huffing a little at the exertion. "Good thing it's Friday or it'll never have gotten done. _Thanks for the help_." He sarcastically said at the end but Heath just gave him a wave from his seat on the couch as Jackson left, driving carefully to his friend's house so as not to spill any of his mixture.

He pulled up outside the Gorgon's house, knocking on the door to wait for his friend to help carry the stuff to his backyard. As soon as Deuce answered, he could see his friend hadn't had a visit yet from that judge he was so worried about. "Hey Deuce. I'm sorry I'm so much later than I thought." He said, but his friend just shrugged.

"Not a problem. Holt show up?" He asked as he and Jackson started to head to his backyard with the sand. Jackson gave a short laugh. "No. But I'm sure the amount of chaos that I've been dealing with would make him proud." Jackson said as they began to set up. "Like I said, Frankie wasn't feeling well and the only way I got her to take a nap so she could rest was to pretend _I_ needed to lie down. It took forever for her to finally stop worrying about what medicines I should be taking and if I needed this or that." Jackson said, Deuce chuckling as he thought of the image. "When she did eventually admit she was tired, then it was that she couldn't get her mind to wind down and counting sheep wasn't good enough." He said, dropping the last of the buckets he had.

"So you and her got to cuddle for a little while then, huh?" Deuce said, Jackson's blush all the answer he needed. "And what did her father say when he saw you in bed with his little creation?" Deuce asked, Jackson giving out a laugh of his own. "I spoke with her mother. Honestly, I'm not sure that was better if the way she wiggled her eyebrows at me means she's going to elaborate the story to her husband. Then I _will_ be in trouble." Jackson said, Deuce laughing at his friend's expense. Although, he wouldn't want to have to deal with something like that from Cleo's father either.

"But then I had to deal with Heath and his new pet wyvern that takes pleasure in eating my house apart. My parents aren't going to be happy when they see that." Jackson said, earning a curious look from his friend.

"How did Heath manage to convince his parents to let him have a pet?" Deuce asked, but Jackson just groaned and let his head drop back as he stood there in frustration. "He didn't. Therein lies the problem." Jackson said, Deuce rolling his eyes at the elemental's typical behavior. "We found her in the boiler room. Lena was eating the coal and blowing more heat into the school." Jackson explained.

"Lena?" Deuce asked with a smile, Jackson rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, well, we couldn't keep calling her 'it'. And Heath is really attached to her already. I don't know how we're going to convince my aunt and uncle to let him keep her." Jackson said, Deuce sympathetic to his friend.

"I think you should actually leave that up to him if he really wants to plead his case to his parents." Deuce said. "Instead, we should be figuring out what to do for our project before it gets too dark out to see what we're doing." He said, Jackson nodding.

"But we've got all weekend to work on it so I don't think we're too bad off." Jackson said, picking up one of the arrows that were lying around the yard. Looking to Deuce the gorgon shrugged. "Been trying to practice in case I might need it for that test. Archery and sword-fighting are some of the most common elements in the tests given out." He explained, Jackson's eyes widening at that as he thought over how fascinating his friend's test seemed to be. He grabbed one of the trays Deuce had bought as part of his contribution to their project and filled it with some of the sand before placing the arrow in it before tipping it over another tray. He grinned when he saw the convex mold made by the sand, hurrying to start to keep the shape retained, and holding it together for a moment before handing it over to Deuce.

"Whoa. Awesome." Deuce said as he handled the sand sculpture. "It's not brittle and it's actually holding up well." He said, tossing it up a little in the air and catching it, the arrow keeping its shape. Jackson smiled triumphantly as he held the arrow he'd replicated. "Now all we gotta do is find something large enough to make a cast like that and we'll be done in no time." Deuce said, handing the arrow back to Jackson.

"I don't know about that. This is hardly a perfect copy. It's close, but even I can tell it needs a little more work." Jackson said as he inspected the sand arrow. But Deuce simply patted him on the shoulder. "I can handle that dude. It can be reworked still, right?" he asked, Jackson nodding and demonstrating for him.

"It's harder to do the longer you let it sit but it's possible." He said. "Now we just need to connect the trays you bought for something a little larger than an arrow. It may be life-size for an arrow, but I don't think that's what our teacher wants." He said, smacking his forehead. "I knew I left something behind. I'll bring over the project specifics tomorrow morning before I start on Heath's dilemma. He's probably going to at the very least be grounded when he springs this on them and I'm sure I'm gonna be roped into helping him get all the stuff he'll need to take care of the wyvern if he's successful. Maybe I'll get lucky and my dad's talk will run longer than expected and I'll have another day to handle my cousin." He said, Deuce shaking his head at Jackson's typical hectic life.

"I'm sorry I keep complaining. What about you? Any news or something?" Jackson asked, but Deuce shook his head, the two of them working to make a large enough makeshift tray out of the ones Deuce had. "No. But I just have a feeling it's going to be soon." He said. Jackson patted him once on the back in a show of encouragement before he and Deuce got to work on getting thing together, beginning to fill their giant tray with the mix.

"We could always go with the 'how sweet' approach and have your mom be the model if she's willing to get this on her. Otherwise we're gonna need to get a dummy or something to dress up and toss in." He said, the two of them trying to get the excess off their hands. "If we keep it covered, it'll be fine. I think I made enough for probably two or three sculptures but better to have too much than too little." He said with a shrug. Deuce was about to comment when his snakes began to his loudly.

"What's up with them?" Jackson asked, seeing his friend getting a little tense too. "Deuce, you okay?" He asked, reaching out to him. But the backdoor was flung aside, Deuce knocking into his friend in his surprise and Jackson landing in the mix, the tray flipping over for a moment before Jackson flung it off of him. He sputtered a little as he crawled out from the mix, his surprise causing him to heat it up a little and form an outline of himself in the mix. He stood up and tried to shake off as much as he could, laughing a little at the unintentional sculpture they'd made, showing off his face of surprise.

"Deuce, what gives?" Jackson asked as he cleared the sand from his glasses. But his gorgon friend didn't answer, Jackson finding him standing at attention at the newcomer. Jackson gave a noise of understanding at seeing the older man with the white blindfold around his eyes, recognizing him as the judge Deuce had been waiting to meet. "Okay, um…I'll leave you to it then. Good luck Deuce." Jackson said, nervously and awkwardly trying to make his exit as subtle as possible with the stunt he'd just pulled off, covered in what Jackson was rapidly thinking of as more like cement than sand. Medusa gave him a grateful nod as he made to leave. But Tiresius' hand caught his arm as he brushed past. "Wait a moment young man. I would like to know the company this potential initiate keeps." Tiresius said, Jackson nervously looking over to his friend for any subtle hints for how he would want him to respond. "Do not look to them for who you are to be tonight. It would not give me any insights on the character of this young man. But you must either be too weak to make your own stand or very caring of your friend. Given that it sounded like you'd had some misfortune at my sudden arrival, I think it is the latter. An admirable quality to have surrounding you Deuce Gorgon." Tiresius said, making Jackson wonder if he was really blind behind that cloth over his eyes. But he stayed quiet as the blind man began to run his fingers over him to 'see' him for himself. Deuce shot him an apologetic look but Jackson just smiled back. "Ah. You are a human." Tiresius said, pausing with his hands on Jackson's chest. "You have found yourself a compassionate and tolerant friend." He said to Deuce, taking a step back from Jackson who looked relieved that he had left him alone.

"Your test will have many parts, Mr. Gorgon. First off…" Tiresius said, somehow finding his way over to stand closer to where Deuce stood, "…turn him to stone." He said, Deuce doing a double take as though waiting for him to say it was a joke. But the old man continued to stand there waiting, prompting Deuce to look over to Jackson. For his part, Jackson seemed just as taken aback.

"No way. He's my friend. I'm not going to do that to him after he's been helping me out." Deuce said. Jackson swallowed thickly before speaking up. "You wouldn't be making it a permanent thing, would you?" Jackson asked, Tiresius only tilting his head to the side a little in vague recognition of the other's question. "If that's all it is, I'm…I'm okay with that for you to pass." Jackson said, taking a deep breath and trying not to tense up as he readied himself for his friend to level his unshielded gaze at him.

"Thanks Jackson, but no. I'm still not going to do that." Deuce said, his mother standing with her hands over her mouth to keep from intervening at all and possibly ruining any chance her son still had.

"Very well. We will move on and come back to that at a later time. I will be here to evaluate you for a couple of days." Tiresius said, Deuce's shoulders slumping a little at that proclamation. Jackson looked unsure what he should do, glancing between his friend and Medusa.

"Jackson, just go. I'll see you later dude." Deuce said, Jackson still a little hesitant but doing as his friend asked. He quickly walked over to the gate, shutting it as gently as he could before all but sprinting to his car.

* * *

Jackson pulled into his driveway and took a moment before heading inside to sit in his car, trying to figure out just how much more chaotic his day could become. He was contemplating how comfortable his car would be when Abbey's loud knock startled him from his thoughts. He sighed and opened the car door, stepping out to talk with his cousin's girlfriend.

"Hi Abbey. What are you doing here?" he asked as politely as he could. Abbey looked over his dirtied appearance before shrugging and getting to her point as succinctly as she normally did. "Heath call about needing help with something. I call him back but no answer on cell phone and parents say he at your house. I take quick break from working with Draculaura on project since house down the street from hers." She said, pointing to the castle-like house at the end of the street.

"Yeah. Heath could use some help. Come on." Jackson said, leading the way inside and wondering why Heath hadn't just let his girlfriend inside. Opening the door they soon saw why, Heath snoring on the couch with the wyvern lying on his chest like a cat. Jackson gave a sigh of relief at seeing that they'd stayed in pretty much the same position, the television on as Heath had apparently fallen asleep watching it. Checking the time, he realized it was much later than he'd thought, the sun having gone down almost an hour ago.

"Aww…I take picture." Abbey said, pulling out her phone and snapping a quick photo that Jackson was sure would wake the two sleeping creatures in his living room. But lucky the sound and flash didn't do more than get Lena to stir a little. "Is so cute. I show to the girls. Sorry for bothering you Jackson." Abbey said, Jackson walking her back to the door. "What is all over you?" she asked once they were back outside, Jackson offering to walk her back over to Draculaura's house.

"Oh, Deuce and I were working on our project and I sorta…fell in." Jackson said, Abbey snickering a little. Jackson rolled his eyes at the lack of sympathy but wasn't going to say more in case his friend didn't want it getting around about this initiation thing into his mother's Greek monster heritage group. Draculaura also laughed at seeing Jackson's appearance. "Bye girls. Oh, could one of you check in on Frankie tomorrow?" he asked, Draculaura nodding.

"Why can't you?" she asked and Jackson sighed. "I've got a bunch of things to do tomorrow and I'm not sure her father is going to be up to seeing me after the effort I went through to get his daughter to take a nap." Jackson said with a blush, the other girls giggling even though they knew Jackson wasn't of the temperament to do anything worrisome with their friend. "And I gotta…oh man…I need to head back to Deuce's and give him some stuff I forgot to bring over for our project." Jackson said, mentally groaning at the prospect of returning to find Tiresius waiting to ask Deuce to turn him to stone again. But the girls just chuckled again at their friend.

"You not fall in all of it yet?" Abbey asked, Jackson giving her a look that had her laughing again with how ineffective the glare was when covered in his project. "Ha, ha." He said as he walked away, giving them a wave goodnight, the two shutting the door as he headed back to his house.

Finding Heath in the same position as when he left, he turned the volume on the television down and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. He wondered if he'd mentioned to Deuce at all how to undo their work if they were really unsatisfied with their final product as he watched the sand dissolve off of him in the water. But then again, he also figured that his friend was in for a tough enough night and probably wouldn't remember all the details that he had gotten around to telling him before his practice was put to the test.

* * *

"Jackson!" Heath yelled once he woke up to find himself stiff from sleeping on the couch, Lena nowhere to be found. "Jackson, I can't find the wyvern!" He shouted as he rushed into the kitchen to see if she was getting a drink from the multiple bowls of water he'd set down for her. But instead he found his cousin playing with her, chuckling as he tossed her a piece of his food.

"What are you doing up already?" Heath asked, looking at the time. "It's way too early for a Saturday." He said as he saw the clock read seven. Jackson shrugged and put his plate in the sink.

"I need to head over to Deuce's again to give him something I left behind yesterday. But that test he was talking about started while I was there and I don't want to get in the way of it." Jackson said, shuddering at the thought. "I'm gonna run over now and try to just leave it in his mailbox or slide it under the door. I'd email it but I'm not sure he's allowed to go to his computer or anything else." He said.

"You really think there'd be strange rules like that?" Heath asked incredulously, Lena jumping into his lap for more pets as soon as he sat down at the kitchen table. She made a few keening noises as she looked to see if there was more food on the table, Jackson placing another plate of food down just out of her tongue's reach for Heath to eat. Heath gave him a grateful look and started to dig in, sharing a bit here and there with his wyvern.

"Well, considering one of the tasks that creepy judge decided to ask Deuce to perform for him was to turn me to stone, I'm not taking any chances." Jackson said, chuckling when Heath's orange juice nearly came out of his nose, knocking a piece of toast onto the floor that Lena got up to clean before it had lingered too long there. "Seriously? Not as in…permanent, right?" Heath asked as he grabbed a napkin.

"I don't know and I'm not going to find out. The sooner I head over, the better my chances are of not running into that judge again." Jackson said, picking up a folder from the counter and grabbing his keys. "I don't want to put Deuce in that situation again either. I'll be back shortly and then we can figure out how to go about…this." He said, gesturing at his cousin and the wyvern that had returned to the chair to start munching on the food in Heath's plate that she could reach. "Hey!" Heath said as he noticed, Lena scooting off the chair as he went back to finish. Jackson shook his head and laughed as he exited his house, starting to walk to his car.

"Good morning." Tiresius' voice said, startling Jackson into turning around as he leaned against his car. "I was hoping you would be awake. I did not mean to place you in any awkward situation." He said, Jackson nodding before realizing the man might not have seen him. "Yeah. Well,…hey, how'd you know where I live?" he asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"I inquired your name from Mr. Gorgon and the rest was a simple search. I only wished to thank you for being so accommodating to your friend." He said, extending his hand to Jackson, who warily took it in order to not do anything to potentially hurt his friend's chances.

"Um…If he's not currently testing, would it be alright if I ran these over to him. We're working together on a project and he might need these." Jackson said, once again forgetting that the old man probably would need him to clarify. "They're just the project requirements. I forgot them at my house yesterday." Jackson said, Tiresius holding out his hand as though to take them.

"I will bring them back to him. Last I checked, he was still asleep." He said, Jackson reluctantly handing them over to the other man. "I may have kept him up into the early morning hours." He said as he held onto the folder under his arm. "Best if you were to keep your distance for a while until he is finished."

"Oh, um, alright." Jackson said. "Sure. Will he be done tomorrow?" Jackson asked, the man giving a small shrug. "It depends on how today goes. I may have been a clairvoyant once in exchange for the loss of my sight, but that gift has since waned despite any efforts of my own. Have a pleasant day, Jackson." Tiresius said, walking away and leaving Jackson wondering how the man would be able to find his way back to Deuce's house. He gave a heavy sigh and walked back inside his house to see Heath making more to eat.

"What happened? You said you'd be quick but you were gone, like, three minutes." Heath said around a slice of bacon. Jackson shrugged and helped Heath make a second breakfast for himself. He wasn't sure if it was because the wyvern had eaten out of his plate or if his cousin's bottomless appetite was calling for more.

"The judge from Deuce's test was waiting for me outside. Told me he'd bring the folder to Deuce and that it would be for the best if I kept my distance." Jackson said, Heath nodding along. "Probably so Deuce can concentrate. Nice of him to go the extra mile for Deuce." Heath said, but Jackson didn't seem so convinced as Heath saw by the look on his face.

"Then why do that for him when he gave his cousins a miserable time? Doesn't make much sense." Jackson said, handing another plate to Heath to scoop his breakfast onto from the pan. "Maybe it's not supposed to make sense. Sort of, to keep people from being able to predict what their test will be like." Heath said, Jackson finding his cousin's suggestion to be reasonable enough.

"Okay, well, now that we're up…." Jackson said as Heath began to dig into his food. "Maybe we should go check out what the pound has to say about how to take care of wyverns." He suggested, his cousin giving him a wide-eyed look. "I don't mean to drop Lena off for good. I just meant that if you showed your parents you did some research, maybe they'll be more willing to consider the possibility of letting you keep her." He said, Heath giving Jackson a beaming smile.

"Ugh. Finish what's in your mouth first please." Jackson said, covering his eyes while his cousin laughed. "I think the only one that might know anything about wyverns is about a half hour away. If they don't know, then we can see if they can point us in the right direction." He said, stealing some food off his cousin's plate. He smiled cheekily at Heath but his cousin seemed to like the plan, the two of them getting ready to spend the day attempting to impress Heath's parents while learn how to take care of their wyvern shadow.

* * *

Deuce groaned as he pulled himself out of bed, unable to properly sleep despite how tired he was, the anxiety getting to him. He didn't bother to grab his glasses, opting to take the limited chance at relief before his judge came back. His mother had done her best to console him over the rocky start, but he figured he'd be needing another attempt just like his cousins. He grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen, letting his mind wander to the point that when he heard a noise outside, he forgot he wasn't wearing his glasses. He dropped the glass as soon as he saw what he'd done, a statue standing out in the yard that resembled a friend of his. He raced down the back steps to open up the backdoor, rushing over to see a statue of Jackson, a folder with papers on the ground.

"Oh, dude, I'm _so_ sorry." Deuce said, bending over to pick up the folder and the tossed papers. "I guess I got you after all with all those close calls yesterday. You'll be okay in a few hours and Tiresius'll…." He started to say when he noticed his mother standing out on the lawn in her robe. "Hi Mom. I had a little accident but Jackson knows it'll wear off." He said, shooting an apologetic look to the statute.

"Deuce, honey…" Medusa said as she walked over to him, concerning Deuce with the tone she used. "Did you just wake up?" she asked, throwing Deuce for a moment before he realized what she was implying. He looked horrified as he turned back to inspect the statue, waving a hand in front of his face to see if the eyes would follow like his usual accidents. When he saw that they didn't, he looked to his mother for help, for her to say something.

"It'll be okay." She said, pulling Deuce into her arms. "There's still a chance it'll wear off at sundown. Gorgons can't control their ability when they first get up at any age, no matter how much they practice. But don't give up right away." She said as Deuce clung to her, horrified at the thought that he'd just accidentally turned his friend to stone permanently. He looked to the statue, finding he couldn't take his eyes away at all now as he looked at the startled expression on his friend's face.

"Come back inside and we'll get your glasses. You should be ready for when Tiresius gets here." She said, Deuce looking at her in an expression of absolute disbelief. "Seriously?! You're still worried about that test when I may have just…" he said, turning back to the statue.

"Not about the test Deuce." Medusa said sternly, getting her son to face her. "You're old enough now that Tiresius could bring this to the higher committee and have them evaluate whether or not to…to have you blinded for willingly killing another monster. And Jackson's human ancestry will only make it seem more unbearable an act." She said, Deuce's mouth dropping open.

"But you know it was an accident! What do you mean 'willingly'? Ask anybody and they'll verify I'd never do this on purpose!" He said, his snakes twisting and coiling in his agitation. "And…and _blind me_?! Why would they…how could they…" he started to ask before his mother pulled him into her arms again.

"I know it was an accident and so will everybody else. But Tiresius made a part of your test turning Jackson to stone." She said, pulling away to have him look at her. "He seemed impressed that you denied having any part in such an action and I think that was the real test. But if he finds out that you did it anyway after he left, and that it might be permanent…." She started to say, Deuce looking near tears, "…he could find a way to plead that to the committee and since the test was already begun, their actions would be left unchallenged by the monster law that should be governing such an accident." She said, taking a deep breath. "Now go inside and get your glasses. Tiresius might not even show up today and Jackson could be back to himself in no time." She said, guiding her son back inside. Deuce gave the barest of nods, finding he had nothing left to say other than one more question.

"If he doesn't come soon, we know he's not planning on coming until sundown again. Can I ….can I call Cleo at least?" he asked tentatively, wanting to be able to share his grief with more than just his mother. Medusa sighed as she contemplated the potential costs of doing that but a look at her son's pleading face made up her mind. "If Tiresius doesn't come soon…You can call your friends to let them sit and wait with you. _But_ only if you can trust them enough not to say anything to anyone until the test is over. Then, if it is permanent, we'll let everyone know of the accident." She said, Deuce nodding to her again.

Deuce got ready as his mother asked, closing the blinds and curtains to every window that looked out into the backyard. But as it was reaching noon and there had been no knock from Tiresius to begin the rest of his test, his mother let him call his friends. He'd simply texted everyone to come over in twenty minutes, hoping that would give him enough time to talk to Cleo privately before the others arrived. Dialing her number he waited until she picked up with her usual enthusiastic greeting to him. "C-Cleo?" he began, his girlfriend picking up immediately that something was wrong as he stuttered over her name. "Can you get here fast? Please…I really, really need you right now." He said, relieved when his girlfriend had stuttered out her own answer of her being there for him anytime he needed her before she told him to give her five minutes and hanging up. True to her word, Cleo was there faster than Deuce had ever thought she'd raced to anyplace not having to do with fashion or partying.

"Deuce, what happened?" Cleo asked as she walked inside, Deuce pulling her into a tight hug. He took a deep breath, gathering the courage to confess to his concerned girlfriend. "I…I had an accident this morning after I'd just gotten up." He said, Cleo's eyes widening as she followed what he was saying. "He wasn't…I didn't think he'd be here so early." Deuce said as he walked over to the window, pulling aside the curtain for Cleo to see. She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as she stared at the statue in the yard. "I didn't know he'd be there and I heard a noise. I looked up for just a second…just a second…" Deuce said, his voice sounding thicker. Cleo looked between him and the statue before wrapping her arms around her boyfriend.

"We can get through this. Jackson…Jackson wouldn't want you to just give up because of this. He knew, _knows_ , how accidents can happen at any time with Holt always showing up." She said, leading him over to his couch. Deuce didn't seem soothed by her words though. "But Cleo…if he doesn't turn back by sundown and it is permanent…if Tiresius finds out, he'll argue I did it on purpose to fulfill one of his purposely ridiculous requirements that I was supposed to refuse doing anyway. I'll…I'll be blinded to keep me from doing it to anyone else." He said, Cleo gasping again as she let Deuce lean on her shoulder. "I called you first. I'm sorry Cleo, but I….I needed you right now." He said, the mummy nodding and gently rocking her distraught boyfriend as they waited for the others to arrive.

Clawd arrived with Clawdeen and Lagoona, Gil not too far behind. Draculaura and Abbey also showed up together, a little later than the others with Ghoulia showing up several minutes behind the two of them. Deuce looked confusedly at Ghoulia's entrance, not sure if he'd texted her too. "I texted her to come too while you were talking with your mom. I wasn't sure if you'd send her a message too, but she's _your_ friend too – and was Jackson's friend. I waited to see how you wanted to do this before texting Heath or Frankie." She said in answer to Deuce's silent question.

"What do you mean 'was'?" Gil asked as they stood in the living room. Cleo looked to Deuce but the gorgon shook his head. "Do you want me to?" Cleo asked, Deuce looking up to her the only answer she needed as she gave him a nod. She stood up from where she was sitting beside Deuce to walk to the window, the group of their friends looking incredibly worried by now. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back the curtain for the others to see the statue.

"Oh!" Was the simultaneous reaction at seeing Jackson's statue in the backyard, the girls coming closer to the window to get a better look. Clawd looked over to his friend in confusion though. "I don't get it man. You do that to Heath all the time and don't get _this_ upset." He said, gaining the others' attention.

"But I don't see him first thing in the morning." Deuce mumbled from his seat, not looking over to his friends. But Clawd still didn't seem completely understanding, shooting a look to Gil to see if he knew but the water monster was just as clueless it seemed.

"If a gorgon does that when he first wakes up, doesn't that make it…." Draculaura started to ask, Cleo giving her a somber nod. The vampire gasped, grabbing onto Clawd before looking over to Deuce. "But there's always that one chance, right?" she asked, a desperately hopeful look in her eyes.

"Am not following at all. He say he coming over to bring you something for project. Why so early in the morning?" Abbey asked in confusion, trying to understand why so many of her friends were upset.

"Because he was worried about getting in the way of this stupid Greek monster initiation test I'm in the middle of right now. He was…he was being nice, like always." Deuce said, Cleo going back over to sit next to him. "I should've just grabbed the glasses. I always do but I was feeling sorry for myself. I just…" Deuce said, leaning into his girlfriend.

Abbey tapped Draculaura on the shoulder for an answer when it seemed like Cleo and Deuce weren't going to give her one, but the vampire had her face buried in Clawd's chest as she sobbed. Clawd looked equally confused over why his girlfriend would be so worked up. "It isn't temporary, is it?" he quietly asked, Ghoulia giving a mournful moan as she shook her head no.

"Oh no" Lagoona gasped, leaning into Gil's side as she and her boyfriend shared a look of shock at the news. "But Draculaura said…." She started to say, the vampire pulling away from her crying to look over to her friends.

"We'll know at sundown if it's not going to reverse. Sometimes it does but there's no way to know until then." She explained. "We'll wait with you. That's why you texted us, right?" she sniffled, Deuce giving her a small nod.

"You…You not tell Heath?" Abbey asked in a quieter voice than was normal for the yeti. "I…I will tell him if not…if you want me to. It horrible, but…" she started to say but Deuce shook his head to stop her from finishing. "No. I did this. If it isn't…isn't temporary, I should tell him." he said, covering his face in his hands.

"What about Frankie?" Clawdeen asked, looking back out to the statue. "Somebody should tell her soon. I know she wasn't feeling well but she has a right to be here too." the werewolf said before shutting the curtain again. "I'd suggest waiting until a little before sundown though. Let her get some rest before…before we tell her this." She said, the others nodding in agreement.

"Deuce…" Cleo said, "…we can go sit outside with him. If he's still there, it might make him feel better to not be alone." She said, doing her best to try and give Deuce some hope. "Don't hide in here. Let's go sit out with him and keep him company." She said, pulling the gorgon up. The others also followed Cleo's lead, passing by his mother who thanked them for coming to be with her son. "We can even have that tasteless food he likes so much." She said, shooting a look to her boyfriend's mother that they both understood as doing everything to make sure that Deuce didn't just stop taking care of himself. Especially with how much more difficult things could get.

* * *

Jackson and Heath were stopped on the side of the road for another time as Heath walked with Lena. Jackson figured that apparently when Heath said he'd brought her to Jackson's house, they'd walked since the wyvern was not pleased at all with riding in a car. There hadn't been any messes made, but Jackson and Heath soon learned that their trip might turn out to be an all-day venture with the amount of times they'd need to stop to keep the wyvern calm.

"You two ready yet?" Jackson called over to Heath as he leaned against the side of the car on the side not facing the road. "We probably should get there _before_ the place closes." He sarcastically remarked, Heath just giving him a roll of his eyes as he waved to his cousin for another minute or two for the wyvern. Eventually, Heath scooped the wyvern back up into his arms and they got back in the car, Lena beginning to get anxious again before they'd even started moving.

"You sure we can't keep the windows down?" Heath asked as they headed out again but Jackson shook his head. "Do you want to chase after her when she jumps out again?" He asked, Heath sighing as they both recalled the panic from the wyvern leaping out the open back window at the beginning of their trip. "We're almost to the place. Keeping them cracked is helping, I think, but I don't think we want to give her a chance to spread her wings just yet." Jackson said, Heath finding nothing to argue against his cousin's suggestion.

As they pulled into the parking lot, they noticed what looked like a fair was set up on the lawn across the street from the creature rescue area. They shared a curious look before getting out and walking to the door, finding that the fair was a fundraiser and awareness promoter for the pound. "Hey, we should check it out after we're done here!" Heath excitedly suggested. "I mean, we're already here and it could be fun…." He said, Jackson smirking at his cousin.

"You just want to see Holt do something stupid with all those animals, don't you?" He asked as they waited for someone to come help them, the wyvern unable to hold still in Heath's arms. "There's going to be loud music and all sorts of…" Jackson said, but it seemed that was exactly what Heath was looking for. "Fine. After we're done here. I'm holding you responsible for getting everything she needs and remembering all the details though." He said, Heath nodding along as though that was minor details.

"It'll be fun. It's a nice day today. Not as nice as yesterday but I'll remember." Heath said, the both of them smiling at the woman as she came over to help them. She made a cooing noise at how cute the wyvern was, motioning for the boys to follow her to their small vet area to help give them the information they needed. It seemed Jackson had been close to his guess at her age, the wyvern closer to a year old and definitely an Italian breed.

"She seems in perfect health and you have the list of the foods she should eat and how often you should let her go gliding…" She muttered more to herself as she looked over the items she'd pulled out for the cousins. "Now all that needs to be done is fill in the registration papers and she'll be just fine." She said, looking up to see Heath guiltily looking to Jackson.

"Oh, don't worry. It's less than ten dollars to get all that formal stuff taken care of since she's a found creature. There haven't been any reports of anyone losing one of their wyverns – they're actually some of the more common guests at the pounds." She said with a sigh. "Just like there are so many black cats at the regular ones. There just as lovable and sweet but normies have a hard time with superstitions and old habits….oh, sorry…." She said when she realized who she was talking to, Jackson rolling his eyes.

"Heath, you can't register her to you if your parents still don't know you found her." Jackson said, Heath looking ready to put up a good argument. "Well…I'm not supposed to let you leave with an unregistered animal." She said, Heath's face taking on a more pleading look now.

"Can he bring her back here if his parents say no?" Jackson asked with a heavy sigh, Heath's hair flaming over the thought, the wyvern yipping excitedly as she teased the flames with her tail from her perch on Heath's shoulders again.

"Of course. But why don't you suggest to your parents a trial period. She's already bonded with you two." The woman said with a smile, Heath literally brightening up at the suggestion. Jackson rubbed his face with his hand. "Okay. Let's go then." He said, Heath giving out a triumphant exclamation at having his cousin's support on this. The woman laughed and the three of them went back out into the main area for her to help with the small amount of paperwork. As soon as that was over and Heath officially 'owned' Lena for however long that might be, Heath was attaching a leash to the wyvern and heading off toward the fair. He was out the door before Jackson, who thanked the woman who helped them. He took a deep breath before pushing the door open, already hearing the muffled music and knowing that Holt would be out as soon as the door opened. He opened the door and felt the transformation begin, Holt standing in his place in a flash of flame.

"Come on Holt! The party's over here!" Heath shouted over to his cousin when it seemed Holt couldn't figure out where he'd woken up. He gave a wide grin though once he spotted Heath, sprinting over to him and causing one car to have to slam on its breaks as he crossed the road. But Holt didn't seem to care, reaching his cousin and bending down to pet the wyvern.

"Hey, when'd you get a dragon? How'd you get your parents to give you the go ahead?" Holt asked as they walked among the stalls and vendors set up with various items for peoples' pets in addition to the typical set-ups that were at any fair. Seeing Heath's sheepish look, Holt's eyes widened and he let out a laugh. "Oh, man! You went behind their back? Gutsy move cuz'. That's awesome." Holt said, Heath trying to explain but Holt had already had his attention directed away to some of the stands. Heath just shrugged and went with his cousin to see what there was for them to do, heading first to the food vendors.

"Holt. I wanna see if I can get the stuff I'll need for Lena." Heath said after they were done, steering Holt as best he could away from the game stands even though he too was guilty of taking longer than he should have at them.

"Okay, okay…" Holt said as they walked over to where it seemed like some vendor was selling some of the food the woman at the pound had suggested. They looked over the stuff, Heath's wyvern tugging at her leash as she smelled the food.

"Aww, man…this specialty stuff is more than what I have on me." Heath said, looking to Holt who was playing with something the vendor had out on his counter. "Seriously?" Heath asked the vendor who simply shrugged.

"Tell you what…" The vendor said as he grabbed what Holt was messing around with before he broke it, "…you pay with what you have and I'll give you as much as you need if your obnoxious pal can stomach one of these things." The vendor said, Heath making a face as he looked at the red and slimy eel-like creature that his wyvern began to whine over once she'd seen it. "You've got to be joking. That'll make him sick." Heath said, although the vendor looked like he'd probably been waiting for a chance to see if someone would take him up on his bet, likely thinking that a couple of teenagers would be his best bet.

"Phsh….that's nothing." Holt said as he grabbed the thing, gulping down the thing as Heath and the vendor watched with wide-eyes. "Ugh….that's gross." Holt said with a shiver but he kept it down, Heath's wyvern getting more rambunctious at not getting one of the treats, pawing at the stand. Heath looked like he might be sick but the vendor let out a loud laugh, patting Holt on the back and keeping to his word by loading Heath up and tossing Lena one of the treats she'd desperately tried to get.

"Oh, man….I can't believe you did that…" the vendor laughed, Holt shooting him a confident smirk. "Oh, the boys back at the shop won't believe me. That made my day. Good luck on your ride home…" he said as the boys walked away. The two got into the car with their stuff, Heath not taking the time to ask to get something to eat again before they left since they'd spent several hours at the fair. "You gonna keep it down?" Heath asked as the radio blared in the car while Holt pulled out, the elemental worried about how his cousin might react if the wyvern treat he'd eaten was going to make a comeback. But Holt just shrugged as they headed back, the two of them not saying much for a while until Holt swerved to the side of the road and bolted out of his seat. Heath grimaced as he heard his cousin finally lose it, making sure the wyvern stayed in the car before going over to check on him. Heath saw as Holt transformed back into Jackson as soon as the music from the car stopped reaching him after Heath shut the door.

"Whoa…deep breath cuz'. Holt did me a favor and it's coming back around I guess." Heath said as Jackson gagged again. But Jackson kept down whatever was trying to come back up, trying to breathe through his nose. "You okay?" Heath asked, not sure if he should approach his cousin yet.

"Yeah…" Jackson said, standing back up but his face lost color again. "No…" he said, turning back around to give in to the nausea. "Ugh…what did Holt eat?" Jackson moaned, lying back onto the grass. Heath bit his lip, positive that telling Jackson exactly what he was tossing back up would make him only gag more.

"Come on. I'll drive us back." Heath said, pulling his cousin back to his feet to get to the car. "But you better be able to back me up when we get to my house." Heath said, Jackson just giving a nod as he reclined the seat to try and get comfortable with what Holt did to him. Heath shook his head at his cousin, but humored Jackson's request to not play any music for a while to give him a break. Lena climbed over from the backseat, Heath laughing as she licked Jackson's face.

* * *

It was near dinnertime when Heath pulled up to his house, Jackson looking a little better from his ill-advised snack. "You and Frankie would make quite a pair right now." Heath said as he waited for Jackson to meet up with him and his wyvern in front of his door. Jackson chose not to respond, indicating for Heath to stop stalling.

"Just tell them already." Jackson said tiredly, leaning against the side of his cousin's house. "I might need to use your bathroom." He said, Heath grimacing again but unlocking the door.

"There you are!" Heath heard his mother exclaim almost as soon as he walked in. "I have been calling you for the past …what is that Heath?" His mother said, hands on her hips as she noticed the wyvern. "How _dare_ you go behind our backs and…"

"No. We found her at school yesterday." Jackson jumped in to say to aid his cousin as he tried to stutter out a good start to their conversation. "She was in the boiler room when we went down and we spent the day getting her all checked out and seeing if…." Jackson started to say before he clamped a hand over his mouth with wide eyes, rushing to the bathroom.

Heath's mother watched him go in both confusion and concern. "What happened to him while you were doing, whatever you two were up to today?" she asked, looking at the wyvern as she climbed onto the couch.

"Ah…uh, Holt took a bet he shouldn't have and ate a wyvern treat. Jackson's paying for it." Heath said, the two of them grimacing as they heard Jackson in the bathroom. "He really did help me with this a lot. I got all sorts of info on wyverns and…and…I got her registered and everything. Please give me a chance. We bought food and I can take care of her. I have been all day." Heath pleaded with his mother, his father coming out to see what had gotten his wife so worked up. He sighed when he saw the wyvern on the couch, but unlike his wife, couldn't hold it against his son. He'd been trying to get her sold on the idea of a pet dragon too, but she was adamant that Heath show her some more responsibility.

"Alright." She sighed with a shake of her head at seeing herself outnumbered. "We'll give this a try. You get _one_ month to prove you can take care of her without letting it affect your grades." She said, Heath nodding along with whatever she was saying as he happily pet his new wyvern. "Does she have a name?" she asked, coming over to pet it too.

"Jackson suggested one. I dunno if it'll last but she's an Italian breed so we went with an Italian name for a girl. We've been calling her Lena." Heath said as his mother couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Kinda old-fashioned but it's good for now." He said, Heath's mother having a feeling that the poor wyvern would go through several names until her son settled on one he thought was just right. "Don't confuse her Heath. Lena is a nice enough name." she said, Jackson making his way back into the living room.

"I missed the whole convincing thing?" He said as he rubbed his face with his hand. "Great. I'm gonna head out then." Jackson said, but his uncle steered him away from the door to sit on the couch.

"You've got your mother worried about you too. Sit here for a little while before you head out in case you need to run to the bathroom again." He said, Jackson not putting up much of a fight. "What did Holt eat that's causing such a reaction?" he asked, but that seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Jackson looked ready to hurl again. But luckily he held it in, relieving his uncle who thought for sure he'd have been in the way.

"I have no idea. Heath said it was some wyvern treat." Jackson said, holding a pillow to his middle. "No, I don't want to see what it was Heath." Jackson said, even though he had his eyes closed. He could tell that his cousin was itching to show off what had gotten him in this predicament with the look he'd been sending Jackson since he walked back into the room. "I'm just gonna take a few minutes before I head home." He said.

"Would you like to try and eat something here?" His aunt suggested, but Jackson rapidly shook his head at the thought of food, his aunt apologizing at how stupid that sounded even to her. "Okay. We'll get you some water then. Come on Heath. The least you can do is help me set the table. It's after dark but we waited for you." She said, Heath for once not giving her a hard time.

"You and Holt get yourselves in all sorts of predicaments." His uncle said to him as he sat near him. Jackson peeked over to him and gave him a long-suffering look at that comment. "I know, I know. You clearly have that figured out. But you should tell your parents what he did this time, just in case it wasn't something exactly… _edible_ …" his uncle said with a bit of a wince as Jackson raced back to the bathroom. He wasn't sure there was more for him to lose, but he wasn't going to get in the way.

Jackson was back in the living room shortly, plopping down on the couch while Heath had dinner with his parents. He was almost asleep when his phone buzzed to remind him about his project with Deuce, causing him to groan aloud at the thought of going back.

"You okay in there Jackson?" His uncle called over to him. Jackson sighed but got up off the couch, grabbing the glass of water his aunt had placed on the coffee table for him. He drank half of it and walked into the kitchen to place it in the sink. "I'm good. But I gotta head out. I'm supposed to be in two places at once again – too bad Holt and I can't just split up and handle them both." Jackson said, his cousin giving a laugh at the idea.

"You want me to drive you home first?" His aunt offered but he shook his head. "I know I need to get back but I need to stop over at a friend's house first. I'll be okay." He said, but she still remained unconvinced. "Hey, this is one of the lesser things Holt has thrown at me or anybody else. No bruises or blood drawn _and_ nothing broken – who could ask for more?" Jackson sarcastically said as he waved goodbye. His typical attitude was enough, it seemed, to convince them that he was feeling better and up for driving. He did feel a little queasy still, but he hadn't been lying about this being one of Holt's gentler episodes.

He tried to take deep breaths as he drove to his friend's house, both to keep from getting nauseous again as well as to brace himself for whatever he might find. He resolved to stay only long enough to see if he'd need to make more of that sand and start their project if Deuce was too busy with his test. He just hoped that he could do that without getting in the way, especially with what was essentially a warning thinly disguised as a friendly suggestion. As he pulled up he saw that his friends' cars were also out front, finding himself needing to park around the corner. While odd given the circumstances, he thought their inclusion in Deuce's test might be allowed since they were all monster too. He sighed as it seemed yet again his human half was considered too fragile to allow him to be moral support for his friend. As soon as he walked around to the backyard though, he heard a crack of lightening and shook his head at his luck as he felt it start to pour buckets onto him. He opened the gate and headed over to his friend's backdoor, noticing the pile of sand that had formed a muddy mound on the ground as it started to dissolve in the rain.

* * *

Deuce and the others had gone back inside when Medusa hadn't catered to her son's desire to eat another meal outside next to the statue of his friend. But the others didn't seem to have much of an appetite either. Medusa had made sure to keep the blinds shut so that her son couldn't take a peak, his friends doing their best to keep him positive. But towards the end of their meal, they'd heard the dreaded knock on the door. It hadn't been sun-down just yet when that had occurred, but Deuce's panicked look to his mother had them all anxious.

"Oh! The whole committee came for my son's test, along with…" Medusa was heard saying as they answered the door, Deuce's snakes hissing as he looked incredibly frightened at hearing that it wasn't just Tiresius again. The group looked concerned for their friend, Cleo reaching over to comfort her boyfriend, as they listened in on Medusa trying to diplomatically negotiate why her son's test needed so many others from the committee.

"I came by earlier to see what your son as a potential initiate would normally do as a test of his character, only to find that he had followed through on a test he was supposed to have purposely failed. That statue out back is of permanent stone, demonstrating your son's disregard for human life and monster existence in favor of his own betterment." Tiresius said, Deuce looking like he would have needed to sit down if he hadn't been already. "It required me to report him to the committee, Nemesis coming in case their judgement should be swift." He said, pointing out the woman with a snake's tail in place of legs and long talons serving as her nails. Deuce lost all color in his face as he realized why she might have been called in to carry out whatever punishment the committee thought he deserved.

"My son only had an accident. He did not _willfully_ kill his friend." Medusa argued in defense of her son, her snakes writhing in her agitation. "You cannot prove that Deuce did this to further himself in your eyes, well…" she said, not sounding sorry for her choice of words. "And there's still time that it may wear off. He'd just woken up when his friend startled him. Give him a chance." She said, turning to the two furies and cyclops that were crowded into the living room as Deuce and the others lingered in the dining room.

"The sun is about to set any minute. We will wait to see if the process reverses itself, but there must be some consequence for this." The fury with the brown hair said, the other with the blue hair nodding along with her. "It doesn't seem like a promising case your son could make. Tiresius records all tasks he assigns as he assigns them and with this development…" The cyclops said as he looked over to Deuce, Nemesis clicking her talons in the background.

"They wouldn't really…the whole 'gouging your eyes out' thing is so BC." Cleo said to Deuce as a form of encouragement, but it didn't seem to really be working. Deuce stood up and pulled back the blinds to look out in the yard as the sun set, the others doing the same with baited breath. But when the statue didn't change like Deuce had hoped, he dropped the blinds and leaned into Cleo as he nearly sank to his knees.

"The boy has not returned to himself?" Tiresius asked, sounding like he already knew the answer. The cyclops answered for him as he drew back from the window. "No, he has not. We should begin evaluating what punishment is suitable for this." He said, Medusa rushing into the conversation to plead her son's case.

While they were talking, Deuce let Cleo lead him back over to his seat as he found he couldn't take a deep breath. "I…I…" he tried to say, but he couldn't get past that. But it didn't seem like even if he'd retained the ability to speak that the committee would have listened to him anyway.

"May I suggest an alternative to simply gouging the poor boy's eyes out." Tiresius spoke up as he waited for the perfect moment. "It does appear as though perhaps his grief is genuine over the loss of the boy he introduced me to as his friend. He cannot be allowed to retain such an unfocused and untrained skill of his with results such as this, but perhaps his sight could be… _transferred…_ to another. We could avoid any bodily harm to him and as I am an empty vessel in regards to that, I could hold onto it myself until he has matured enough for his sight to return to him naturally." Tiresius said, the committee looking as though they were considering his suggestion, although Nemesis seemed a little less enthused.

"You still want to blind my boy for an accident that clearly hurts him as much as anyone else!" Medusa argued. "Deuce shouldn't be forced to have to endure any of that." She said, looking over to see her son and his friends taking comfort in one another as they processed what had happened.

"How am I gonna tell Heath? Frankie? His parents?" Deuce mumbled as he held his head in his hands. Cleo hadn't left his side, Clawd comfortingly holding his other shoulder to let his friend know they were there for him. "J-Jackson shouldn't have…." Deuce started to say before shaking his head again and looking up at the committee to see if they'd come up with something for him yet. Dealing with a statue still in his yard and the suspense of waiting for the judge and jury to tell his executioner where to strike was tearing him up inside.

"I like Tiresius' suggestion." The fury with the blue hair said as she tapped her chin, looking to the other fury. "It seems fitting. But removing that from him will be difficult for you Nemesis." She said, but the other woman smirked at the prospect. With that it seemed to Deuce that they'd decided, Deuce standing up and taking a few steps back. "Tiresius will be a, _surrogate_ , for his sight and its unharnessed potential until your son is capable." She said, Medusa getting between her son and Nemesis as the other woman started to head after her son. The boom of thunder outside gave Deuce the distraction to rush out of the room, heading to the backdoor. He was at the top step when the door opened and Jackson walked inside, shaking his hair a little to get the water out of his eyes.

"Hey Deuce. Sorry I just dropped by unannounced but it's pouring out." He said, not registering the shock on his friend's face as he started to climb the stairs. "Man, I must've done something else to myself with the way I feel right now." Jackson said as he reached the top, Deuce not moving from where he stood open-mouthed. "You okay? Oh! How'd the test go?" Jackson asked, sending his friend what he hoped was an encouraging smile. Deuce broke into a wide smile of his own as he pulled Jackson into a crushing hug, his snakes tickling Jackson's face.

"You're back." Deuce said with a laugh. Jackson tried to awkwardly return the hug, but a loud thud from the next room had him looking over his friend's shoulder to see Nemesis come crashing around the corner with Medusa gripping onto her tail with all her monstrous strength. "Whoa!" Jackson shouted, Deuce turning around to see what had happened.

"Mom! Mom, stop!" Deuce shouted, the moment of divided attention all Nemesis needed to break free and then pin Deuce to the wall. "Deuce!" Jackson shouted, reaching out to start pulling the woman away from his friend.

"Wait….you're here." Nemesis said. "So then no punishment is required." She said, sounding a little disappointed. Medusa pushed Nemesis aside to pull her son into a hug, Jackson standing there with a confused look on his face.

"Jackson's back!" Clawdeen's said as she and her brother peeked around the corner, their faces lighting up with large smiles.

"Yes… I'm back. Why is that such a surprise?" Jackson asked, turning to Deuce for answers. But before his friend could say anything the rest of the committee and Tiresius joined them.

"It would seem your actions were too premature Tiresius. The boy is flesh and blood again." The brown haired fury said as she turned to the blind man with suspicion in her voice. "It is unlike you of all people to do anything prematurely, especially since your clairvoyance…" she started to say but Jackson interrupted.

"But I thought you said it was gone now?" Jackson asked, trying to figure out what he had walked into. He felt as confused as when he came back from being Holt, except this time he had nobody but himself to blame. "You said so to me this morning when you told me…." Jackson started to say, but Tiresius hastily intervened.

"My clairvoyance is not the issue here. The boy was a statue for an indecent amount of time. Clearly this demonstrated the enormous potential Deuce has that he cannot handle yet anyway. The punishment should still be carried out." Tiresius said, the furies exchanging a disbelieving look.

"Be that as it may, this extended period has no bearing on the fact that the human…" the cyclops started to say, Jackson sighing and mumbling 'Jackson, the human's _name_ is Jackson' under his breath. "…does not seem to hold it against Mr. Gorgon. This persistent advocation for punishment is unlike all the reviews your peers had given you when we were considering you to be our judge." He said, his one eye looking more intensely at the old man. Tiresius went to say something, but Cleo snatched the blindfold off of his face, revealing to everyone the sight of perfectly normal-looking eyes that didn't seem to be unable to follow anyone's movements.

Medusa gasped. "You're sight was returned to you! You were looking to take my son's abilities for your own!" she growled, the skins on her head hissing menacingly. "You got greedy with the reprieve Hades gave you and finding out you lost your supernatural edge when your eyesight finally came back….I should turn _you_ to stone!" she said, Nemesis laughing behind her.

"Not to worry. He falls into _my_ jurisdiction now." She said, Tiresius taking off and heading for the door, the Naga woman slowly slithering after him. "I think I'll borrow this." She said, picking up an arrow from where Deuce had dropped some of his archery equipment when he'd carelessly brought things back inside the day before after the exhausting test. "Not another Apollo arrow…" Tiresius moaned in fright, rushing out into the rain, Nemesis laughing as she headed out to find him with the knowledge she could easily get him to go back to Hades with the memory of the last time an Apollo arrow landed near him and tossed him into the Underworld.

"What is going on?" Jackson finally asked in frustration. "Seriously... All I did was come over to ask you a simple question about our project and I find another, I dunno, Trojan war going on." Jackson said, Deuce laughing at his friend.

"I'm so glad it wasn't permanent." Deuce said, hugging Jackson again despite the rest of their friends looking on. "I'm so sorry dude. It was an accident. Gorgons can't control their abilities at all when they first get up, and you startled me, and…and…oh, I'm so relieved you're back." He said, pulling back but not letting go of Jackson's shoulders.

Medusa walked the committee to the door as she talked about making sure that Tiresius was held accountable for what he tried to do, leaving her son and his friends to reunite with Jackson. Coming back shortly, the group quieted to hear what she had to say. "They offered you to be initiated right away after all this – no other test. I told them that if this is what they're holding themselves up as, that I might be reconsidering my membership. But the choice is yours Deuce and you can always take them up on it later. I wanted you to be a part of the Echidna class because it was something _I_ wanted; you should be able to decide on your own if it means anything to you." She said, stroking the snakes on her son's hair fondly.

"I know Mom. And thanks." Deuce said. "I'll think about it." He said, smiling to his mother and receiving one in return before he turned back to Jackson. The girls were talking hurriedly to him, pretty much over each other's sentences too and Jackson looked overwhelmed. Deuce laughed before surprising his friend and picking him up. "I'm just glad it all worked out." He said.

"No, Deuce…" Jackson said, feeling whatever Holt ate that got him so queasy acting up again. His friend quickly put him down and Jackson rushed to where he knew his friend's bathroom to be.

"Oh dear. Being stone for so long is bound to make him feel a little ill." Medusa said to her worried son. "He'll be fine." She said, Jackson reemerging a few minutes later, leaning on the wall. "Ugh…. If I could hurt Holt, I would." He said, swallowing thickly.

"Easy bro" Clawd said, helping Jackson to the couch. "You had a rough day." He said, Jackson nodding along with him before realizing that Clawd wouldn't know what he was up to and shooting his friend a curious look. "Yeah, but what do you think I did?" Jackson asked, looking between his friends for an answer.

"Why don't we let Deuce talk with you about it and we'll catch up with you tomorrow, or at school on Monday?" Cleo suggested, providing Deuce with the chance to talk with his friend privately in case he was worried he might get too emotional in front of the others.

"Okay…um…good night then guys." Jackson asked in bewilderment as their friends left, giving Deuce a look for him to explain once it was just them. Deuce gave a heavy sigh and Jackson figured his friend was going to have a hard time explaining. Normally Deuce wasn't the most eloquent of people anyway, but Jackson had found that his friend usually could get to what he needed to say to him pretty easily. But as the silence wore on, Jackson was getting frustrated, especially since he could see that Medusa was still lingering around the corner based on the shadow on the wall.

"Deuce, just explain already." Jackson said, standing up quickly but regretting it as his stomach churned. He held a hand to his mouth as he leaned forward to grab the arm of the couch.

"Hey, hey, hey" Deuce said, coaxing his friend back onto the couch. "Um….maybe we should let my mom make sure you're okay." He suggested, Jackson hearing the heightened worry in his friend's voice.

"No, I'm okay." Jackson protested, but Deuce was ready with his own argument. "Come on dude. She's done it before." He said, making Jackson blush in embarrassment.

"That's only 'cuz Holt…" he started to say but his friend shook his head at him. "True, Holt's gotten you banged up from time to time, but you don't say anything against my mother's herbal teas when you're not feeling well." He said, Jackson sighing in defeat. He knew Deuce was probably the only one he'd been the most honest with about the times he'd been ill enough he couldn't successfully hide it from his friends, or hurt enough that Medusa's quick fix was appealing. He gave a nod to his friend, knowing that it would ease whatever had him so worried about him too. He wasn't surprised either when Medusa was there before Deuce could go get her, Jackson wondering how many times Deuce's own consistent injuries to himself either through extreme sports or by turning himself to stone had gotten her ready to immediately act without words needing to be spoken.

Jackson let her look him over, lying out on the couch despite his protests that he was just nauseous. "I just need to make sure that there isn't any lingering stone anywhere. You wouldn't be aware of it right away anyway." She said, Jackson looking over to Deuce in confusion as she gently ran her hands down his sides. But he winced when she began to press down more, his already twisting insides from Holt's snack telling him not to have anyone do that at the moment.

"What is it?" Deuce said from behind his mother. Medusa paused as Jackson tried to sit back up slowly, not wanting to trigger any more trips to the bathroom from food poisoning.

"It's nothing. I'm fine." He said, sighing a little when Medusa's strength was enough to get him to lie back down. "Jackson, don't lie. Especially not tonight." She said in a gentle but stern whisper to him as she returned to trying to determine what was wrong with her son's friend.

"I'm just nauseous and poking me in the stomach isn't making it better for the cramps from throwing up." He said. "I'll be fine tomorrow once whatever Holt ate is out of our system." He said. "There's nothing wrong with me otherwise." He said, Medusa allowing him to sit up. He looked over to Deuce as Medusa continued to scrutinize him, the look on her face echoing the thoughts of pity she had for Jackson's mother if he was giving _her_ this hard of a time. "But now that I've proven I'm not gonna pass out on you, I think you still owe me an explanation." He said, Deuce giving a glum nod.

"Like I said, I'm sorry about all this." Deuce began, sitting in one of the chairs. "When you came over earlier to drop off those papers – they're in my room, by the way. I thought you'd want me to hold onto them and I was really hoping you would, well…." He said, Jackson trying to follow what he was saying. Medusa cleared her throat to signal for her son to get on with his story. "Right. Um…I'd just gotten up and I didn't wear my glasses 'cuz I thought it was just me and mom, but I heard you do something outside and I looked out and, well, you spent the whole day as a statue dude. Really thick stone too since that's what happens with gorgons' gazes when they first get up. I wasn't sure if I'd…made it permanent and I called the others so they could sit and wait with me once I knew Tiresius wasn't going to show up, but he apparently did at some point…." Deuce began to ramble, sounding like how his girlfriend would talk.

"Deuce. What are you talking about?" Jackson asked again in confusion. "I was never a statue in your backyard." He said, Deuce looking to his mother for help.

"Oh, Jackson. If the stone is that thick, sometimes you just can't remember." Medusa said, coming back over to sit next to him and check his head once again as she felt his forehead. "But at least there wasn't anything else done. Your elemental core is still intact." She said, gaining Jackson's attention.

"What? How can you tell?" He asked Medusa, the gorgon giving a light chuckle. "Deuce has explained his heat-sensing abilities, hasn't he? If you know what to look for, a gorgon can tell what kind of strength the elemental they're dealing with has." She said, poking Jackson in the chest. "Deuce, have you been able to see it?" she asked her friend, Jackson blushing at the awkward moment her question produced. Deuce looked to her with an embarrassed look but Medusa just shook her head.

"It's not embarrassing. All gorgons have that ability and all fire elementals have a hot core." She said, Deuce burying his face in his hands to get her to stop trying to help, Medusa smiling as her son seemed to be doing better with her choice of a distraction to get him to try and relax back into his normal self. "I'm not surprised you couldn't tell that's what you were seeing. It's right by his heart and he's half human so it's a little harder to pinpoint." She said, once more poking Jackson in the chest to show her son where to look.

"Okay…" Jackson said, blush heating up his face. "Can we get back to why everybody thinks I was stone all day? You can call Heath and he'll tell you all about our misadventure with his new pet wyvern he found in the boiler room the other day at school." Jackson said, leaning back on the couch. "There was a fair across from the pound where we went to get her all set up for him and that's where Holt decided to eat, _something_ , nasty as a part of a bet." Jackson said, receiving looks of confusion from his friend and his mother that he had previously given them. "That's why I'm so queasy at the moment."

"You were definitely stone Jackson." Deuce said. "I sat next to you all day, dude, wishing my look would turn you _back_ to flesh and blood." He said, looking to his mother again in concern that he'd messed up his friend some more.

"Wait, wait…" Jackson said before Medusa could validate her son's statement. She had stood up and pulled back the curtains to look out into the backyard, seeing the lack of any statue, and was about to remark on that when Jackson had gestured for a moment. "Where was it standing? Over by the rest of the buckets of the stuff I brought over yesterday?" he asked, recalling the mound of the sand he'd seen in the grass. He'd assumed it had been left over from when he'd tipped the tray they'd filled up. When they nodded he continued with his theory.

"Tiresius was setting you up." Jackson said, Deuce huffing in frustration at hearing what he already knew. "No, listen. He was waiting for me outside my house this morning. He told me not to come over at all this weekend until your test was done. He took the folder I was going to drop off, saying he'd give it to you at some point." He explained, standing up and pacing despite his stomach's protest at moving around again. "If he'd really not been blind at all from the beginning, he knew I'd left a cast in the sand when I fell in. All that, 'let me get to know you' stuff was to make sure I am as human as I look so he could use it against you when he took the cast and used it to make the statue. I must've hardened it enough when I was surprised and heated it up a little so it was still there for him to use…" he said, but Deuce picked up where he was going with his idea.

"And he had plenty of other material to work with. He made a statue of you he knew he could then get rid of once he'd gotten what he wanted from me. That way when you showed up again, he could claim it as a…a delayed recovery, or just be gone long before that happened. He clearly wasn't planning on giving me back my sight." Deuce said, Jackson nodding along with his friend.

"It dissolves in water. I forgot to mention that to you since your test started before we could get too involved in our project." Jackson said, waiting for Deuce to start yelling at him that he should have called him or something to have avoided spending the day so tense and grief-stricken like he had. But instead of that, Deuce started to laugh.

"Oh, I don't care about any of that now." Deuce said, getting up to walk over to his friend. "I'm just glad you're not a statue dude. " He said, Jackson giving a laugh of his own. "Yeah, well, me too." he said, earning another laugh from his friend as Deuce pulled him in for another hug.

"You can't tell anyone about the amount of times I hugged you though, got it?" he said as Jackson patted him on the back before they broke apart. "Of course not." Jackson said with a roll of his eyes. "But I'm still going to need to head home. I've had my own odyssey today and I just can't seem to make it back home." He said, thunder booming again nearby.

"Not in this storm with the way you were running to the bathroom earlier." Medusa said, Jackson protesting that his parents really were going to ground him for sure if he didn't get back. "I'll make some tea to help settle your stomach and you two can have a sleepover." She said, shooting Jackson a look that told him that Deuce needed it as much as he needed to rest. That, plus the fact that Medusa was plenty capable of finding a way to keep him in one place for the night if he argued with her anymore that night. Jackson gave a sigh and a nod, following Deuce to his room to hang out with his friend for a little longer before they went to sleep. But then a sudden thought hit him that had him worrying about what sorts of phone calls he was going to get. "Hey Deuce….you didn't tell Frankie what happened….did you?" Jackson called over to his friend, Medusa shaking her head as she entered the kitchen to make them all some tea to help them relax after their hectic day.

* * *

On Monday, Jackson and Deuce were sitting in their art class, dreading having to present their project. As expected, Draculaura and Clawdeen had gossiped to Frankie as soon as they were out of Deuce's house, leading to several panicked calls that kept Jackson up half the night reassuring her that everything was alright. She hadn't been pleased to know that he'd pulled one over on her, but had kissed him on the cheek at the start of the school day as a thank you for taking care of her. But now came the part of the day when Jackson and Deuce thought they'd be hearing all about their lack of effort.

"What is this supposed to be?" their teacher asked as she inspected their work of a 'life-size' snowman with a look that clearly asked why they'd basically made three white balls and built a snowman with a scarf dyed blue and red. "And what is it made out of?"

Jackson and Deuce shared an embarrassed look before Jackson answered. "Paper mache. We had another project in mind, but, well…."

"It was more trouble than it was worth." Deuce said, sharing a look with their friends they had this class with as they silently understood what he meant after they'd explained everything to them with Jackson's added information. "So we improvised. Nothing's cast in stone here." He said, gaining a few laughs for his wording. But the teacher just shook her head before moving on, Jackson and Deuce sharing a relieved look that they could move on now. They'd just have to practice some more to get the hang of things.


End file.
